National Affairs: Two Times Two

This week General George Marshall, Chief of Staff and Commander of the
U.S. field forces, went hard to work at his most important job: the
preservation of the Army of 1,448,500 which his officers were still
training, which was not yet fully equipped. Fortnight before, he had
asked that Congress extend the one-year terms of service of draftees,
National Guard and Reserve officers. He had also laid out the
alternative: disbanding the Army before it is a trained field force.

If Soldier Marshall had expected that Congress would hop to this
suggestion, he was mistaken. In the week following his report,...